Still Boring…

Kieran Delaney sparked the debate yesterday with a nice Boring article…. (And by that I don’t mean the article was boring, just the title)… and there is quite evidently a view from the fans that Nasri is a money hungry individual, who has no reason to stay at the Arsenal and should move on (if he wants) and go and get a huge wage packet at Man City – as long as we get a decent fee. Well, personally, I don’t agree.

Nasri is a very good player – he’s shown in splurts that he can be world class. Nasri has tried quite hard this season and like many others in the squad, I’m sure he felt a little let down by the players, the way we finished the end of the season. It must be hard for any attacking player to see us collapse so badly defensively and surely he has the right to question whether to sign another contract or not. It’s been said before and today the Guardian are running with the story that Nasri is waiting to see who we sign before committing.

A few people have asked why he should stay… well, here’s your three answers:

He’s enjoying it – he plays with a smile on his face…

He plays in a team which plays excellent football…

He is first choice in the team, respected by fellow team-mates…

He is loved by the fans, we’ve got a great song for him too…

He is friends with the majority of the team and has a good social life because of it..

That’s like awesome points…. and here’s some more…

He is playing for one of the biggest teams in the world

He has an excellent manager

He plays in an amazing stadium

And the list goes on…

I’ve been pondering the decision (if we had to make it) of who we would prefer to leave, Nasri or Cesc… Well, if Cesc leaves, then Nasri will too, but if Nasri leaves, and Cesc stays then we have the better player, you would think? But then surely Cesc would leave next summer, so keeping Nasri would make more sense for the longevity of the club…. Make any sense??

The best thing for Arsene to do is just sign some quality players, make Nasri sign and then push on for honours… simple, hey?

There is a lot of news about Cesc, but most of us have learnt to ignore it… £54m from Real Madrid, Inter or Barcelona… would you take it?

No doubt he is quality, although he has not been consistent enough, should not be leveled with Cesc and RvP blah blah…

Bottom line – disrespectful to the club and fans, not a true gunner (fancies Utd move, wtf!?) – we don’t need players like him

http://delhigunner.wordpress.com Shubham Goel

I actually don’t understand Nasri’s statements. He’s been good for only half a season and he thinks he’s good enough to play with Arsenal FC. He is potentially world-class but surely not now.He needs to reonsider his thought and try to progress in the footballing department which can best be done at Arsenal.http://delhigunners.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-to-do-about-samir-nasri.html

mutlety

Former Arsenal striker Perry Groves says keeping Samir Nasri is more important than Cesc Fabregas.

Both players are being linked with moves away this summer.

Groves told talkSPORT: “I actually think he’s more important now than Cesc Fabregas for Arsenal’s future.

“If Cesc wants to go to Barcelona because he has that calling and he’s not 100 per cent committed, as long as Arsenal get the right money for him, whether it’s £40m or £50m they can then go and buy the centre-half and the combative midfield player they need.

“Samir Nasri was brilliant at the start of the season when him and Jack Wilshere were the two main players. I think he had 10 or 11 goals before Christmas.

“And then when Cesc Fabregas came back in the team he played him left of the three or right of the three and he wasn’t as influential.

“His contract has only got one season left so he now will want to go on to be one of the highest earners on the wage structure and I think he’ll want guarantees of where he’ll play so there is a little bit of brinkmanship going on.”

mutlety

Simple question is why would any of our decent players want to stay?

They don’t, they have lost faith in the manager but he is too deluded to see it.

As annoying as it would be to lose him or Cesc I would understand, let it be clear though that I would not understand the Bendtner’s or Denilson’s who are disillusioned as they are part of the problem with the manager who selects them.

Nasri and Cesc would get my blessing because they are worth better than this.

Jack will be next, sad but true.

patrick

We can forget about getting A.Young – he’s off to MANURE. When was the last time we fuckn sjowed som ambition in the transfer market?

mutlety

That story is in the daily mail and not that i believe in that paper one bit i would not be surprised to see them get him

steve68

money grabbing twats

yemi

The fact remains that if the squad is not PRPERLY strenghtened in the necessary places, then we will see ou biggest players leaving again. Now its nasri and Cesc, next it will be RVP and sond, then TV and Jack !!!

Steve

I’d take £54m for Cesc and keep Nasri.

I’ve said it before on here Nasri needs to be able to play as he did in the pre November games.

He had no RVP but Chamakh up front. Funny how Nasri and Chamakh had bad 2nd halves of the season but a brilliant 1st half.

No Stato here – when did Nasri score all his goals. A quick check on Arsenal.com – I checked 2 games
Spud – 2 penalties
Fulham – 2

4 from 15 No RVP and Chamakh came on as sub in the other

Not knocking RVP he’s great and not getting the credit he should elsewhere and we relied on him 2nd half of the season.

The £54m would need to be spent though

CB
DM
CF
Winger

£12m a piece and change! Add the £20m in the transfer kitty and quite a overhaul.

Steve

We could even squeeze in Hiddink leaving few in that lot.

Who’d you have Wegner or Hiddink ?

I think AV missed a few tricks this year but better the devil you know.

If we drop out of CL positions next season I think the changes will happen but the question is who?

Sparky, Big Sam, Rafa who else………..some out there are a joke.

Think Steve Bould should be involved in the senior side ASAP allowing AV to do the development work etc.

Tony Adams, Dennis or someone else to be involved but will take time.

Steve

We are all asking about stengthening the squad:

What about these additions

Drogba
Cole

Proven Premiership players I know they are Chelski (not as troublesome as the last one) but they know a goal when they see one!

mutlety

What is even more alarming is the fact that not too long ago, Arsenal were sitting safe in second spot, but this quickly turned into falling down into fourth and staying there until the end of the season, meaning that the club will now have to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League this season.

There have been many excuses for the club not achieving in the last few years, but it now seems like the time that there have to be some major changes of personnel in the squad. There’s no question that Arsenal play some of the best football in the Premier League, but this clearly isn’t good enough for success. The team play the same style of football in each match and even when it’s clear that they should change this style early on in a match, they not only don’t, but are probably unable to do so.

This is down to the fact that Arsene Wenger stubbornness and that they have too many players who play the same way. You could argue that Barcelona are like this, but a counter argument would suggest that the Barcelona first XI has far better talent in it than Arsenal’s does. So what changes are needed?

In my opinion, Arsenal need much stronger players in their side (both mentally and physically), so that the side are better equipped to cope with the rigors of the English Premier League. Although this won’t be able to happen now, could you imagine the current Arsenal side with a few Manchester City players such as: Vincent Kompany, Nigel de Jong, Yaya Toure and Carlos Tevez in it?

These were players (possibly minus Tevez) that Arsenal could certainly have afforded to purchase and who would have given a different dimension to the side. There have been too many times away from home to sides like Bolton and Stoke over recent seasons that Arsenal have been beaten quite comfortably because they couldn’t cope with the physical presence of these sides.

Teams like Manchester United and Chelsea are able to cope with pressure from teams that have different styles, but those wearing Arsenal jerseys are unable to do this, especially at crucial times in the season. This will not change unless changes are made and here are a few that could potentially happen this summer.

It does appear as though there could be several players leaving the club this summer including: Abou Diaby, Tomas Rosicky, Denilson, Andrei Arshavin, Emmanuel Eboue, Marouane Chamakh and Nicklas Bendtner. Cesc Fabregas is also linked with a move to Barcelona again this summer, which if completed could represent a significant sum of money for the club.

There have been rumours that Arsenal are looking to bring Blackburn’s Christopher Samba to the club. Although he is possibly not the ideal candidate for the role, this could be a step in the right direction and having a huge physical presence in defence, who is a no -nonsense type of defender. Scott Parker has also been mentioned as an Arsenal target and once again, you could see this being a possibility. Both of these players have a lot of experience in England and will give Arsenal added aggression into their side.

There are other areas in which the team could improve, but I definitely think a new striker is required. Once again, they need a player with good presence and goalscoring ability. Arsenal have been linked with Porto striker Falcao, who has had a fantastic season and is highly rated.

I understand that this article has been very critical of the current philosophy that Arsenal are using, but ultimately, they haven’t won anything for over six years now and many believe that things have to change in order for this to be turned around.

mk gould

My feeling is that this is the best of times, it is the worst of times, it is the age of wisdom, it is the age of foolishness, it is the epoch of belief, it is the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.

Anyway, that’s my thoughts on the Nasri situation

simon

Nasri’s contract negotiations reflect the difficulties which Arsenal face in the current financial climate. You have a handful of teams which seem impervious to the harsh economic realities constraining everyone else. An interesting look at what footballers can earn can be had at this link http://www.caughtoffside.com/2011/04/26/100-best-paid-footballers-in-the-world/ which outlines the top 100 salaries in world football. Our own Cesc Fabregas is tied for 26th at 6M Euro per year. Gooners want to compete equally on the pitch with the likes of ManUre, Chelski, Barca and Real Mad. Well those teams have, respectively, 2, 6, 6, and 5 players who make the same or more than Cesc, our highest paid player. They have 5, 7, 7, and 8 players who make the same or more than our second highest paid player, Arshavin at 4.8M Euro. We have three players in the top 100 list. They have between them 35 of the players on that list, 9, 8, 8, and 10. That’s not even considering the fact that ManShitty have 13 players on that list (I’m including on loan players like Craig Bellamy and Adeba-whore in shitty’s total).

Furthermore, consider that according to goal.com’s list of the “ten biggest clubs” in Europe, Arsenal are dead last in terms of their wage bill at 110.7M pounds, half of Barca’s wage bill at 219M pounds. Seven of the teams on that list are at least twenty percent higher than Arsenal.

So until Arsenal can raise their overall wage bill, we will always be prone to losing players to other clubs. Nasri and his agent can look at that list and see that a loose cannon like Mario Balotelli and an unproven (at least in EPL terms) striker like Edin Dzeko are paid more than Cesc. They can see that Glen Johnson, Gareth Barry and Joe Cole are making right around what Cesc makes. I mean if Joe Cole can get 5.4M Euro, than I’m sure there’s a team who’s willing to meet Nasri’s salary demands. So, within Arsenal’s established wage structure, even Nasri’s purported demand of 90k pounds per week is a tad generous and certainly giving him financial parity with Cesc is excessive. And yet, Cesc’s Arsenal wage might be considered a relative bargain, given that he’s certainly one of the top midfielders in the world. If we gave Nasri 110k per week, we’d probably end up having to renegotiate a few other contracts, which I’m sure Arsenal are loathe to do. Arsenal have the fourth highest wage bill in the EPL and we finished fourth in the table. I hate to think it, but maybe that’s our level.

kronke

Nasri as influential as Cesc? Shocked

Yeah ok. Give me a committed Cesc over Nasri anyday.

This is a joke right? Nasri gave us 5 months of top notch quality since he came to this club!

It must be bad for someone like Wenger who can never admit they are wrong to be villified amongst the press, his own players and the fans of the club and yet still believe everything he has done has been good for the club. Does the word “responsibility” mean anything to him ? If Ferguson just had the same season as Arsenal just had do you really think he would be acting like Wenger does ? The players would have been read the riot act and suffered the hair dryer treatment – they would have their arses kicked and told under no uncertain terms to buck their idea’s up. What do you get with Wenger ? Nothing – Zilcho – Nada. No apology to the fans who pay the Earth to watch that and the players are jollying it up while we, the fans work hard to pay for the tickets that they charge us so highly for. The top and tail of it is that Arsenal from the players to the manager to that cancerous board of directors have no respect for the fans what so ever. We complain and Hill Wood says we are idiots – - I just hope that their season ticket sales fall through the floor – they simply do not deserve to loyal support they get.

Kodjo

What’s with mutley????

with this copy and paste business…i mean you don’t have to be a journo but at least you should be able to put down your thoughts in a few lines??

Bonathan

There’s no doubt wenger has made mistakes in the transfer market. And I believe there’s no doubt that nasri would be staying if we had won some silverwear this season and not faded away as much as we did.

There’s nothing we can do about that now. Wenger has admitted he’s made mistakes, and has said he is looking to rectify them in the transfer market this summer. So this is it. We need to wait and see.

I personally do not blame nasri at all. Obviously he’s gonna want a decent pay raise. Is he being a bit greedy? Well, I think he’s simply asking for more money because he’s at the stage where, unless he’s getting paid top bucks, then why should he stay when there are bound to be doubts about staying anyway due to the lack of silverwear. I think negotiations would have been a lot easier if we had won something and he was a bit more convinced we were going in the right direction. Who can blame him? He’s a top player and he’s coming toward the end of his contract. Of course he’s going to consider his options given our recent slump.

Wenger needs to make signings. 3 or 4 in my opinion. Quality singnings though. We have dead wood to get rid of to help fund them and I honestly think we cash in on fabregas if the right offer comes in.

But we need to be patient. Wenger has admitted the mistake, I think he desrves the chance to put it right. But I do think he needs to be a bit sharper, and dig a little deeper into the coffers.

edison

100% agree with you bonathan

Berth

Agreed bonathän.

yemi

@ simon:
It’s a dicey situation concerning the wage bill, Teams have players that earn big and complement it with low earners. We have few big earners but we have a lot of underserved players earningwages higher than what they deliver on the pitch. As far as i am concerned, Nasri is worth 110K, But give him 90K for now, and get one 80-100K striker, plus another 60-80K CB plus another 60-80K winger then let go of some chaff (b52 60k?, Denilson 50K? Rosisky another 60K ?, Squillaci,) plus our 10-20M transfer war chest, plus some youth.

I don’t understand what i just calculated but what i am trying to say in essence is that if we let go of some dead wood and bring in 3 or 4(GK included) established players, plus what we have for the transfer, we should be OK. And the players will recognize the intent (bringing 4 established) so they will will accept whatever wenger is offering. But if you bring a no name again!!

What do you think the message will be if wenger brings in Given, Hangeland or Cahill or Samba or Sakho, Benzema or Lukaku plus hazard ?

I have not watched enuff of gervinho (spelling right?) to be able to make a judgement. The only thing i can ask is Must wenger go to france or Barca academy ?

@ Bonathan:
If wenger has admitted that he made mistakes, what is he doing to correct the mistakes ? The longer it takes him to sign a player in the market, the more frustrated the others get.

I know i am ranting !!!! But maybe there are one or two valid points somewhere in there

Breakdown of the list (as it concernes us being one of the top teams in the world.)
In the list,
arsenal 3
Manchester united 9
Manchester city 11
chelsea 8
Barcelona 8
Madrid 12
Marseille 3
Liverpool 5

and many more.

We should have at least 5 in that list
and our players are on numbers 29 (cesc),57 (arshavin) and 73 (RVP)

http://www.iclmagnet.com eddy current

It must be bad for someone like Wenger who can never admit they are wrong to be villified amongst the press

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